Improvement in shoes



.L. JOHNSON.

Shoes.

No. 197,517. Patented Nov. 27, 1877.

ill 6%? I N-PETERS. PHDTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, ,D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LABURTON JOHNSON, OF BRADFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 197,517, dated November27, 1877; application filed October 24, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LABURTON J OHNSON, of Bradford, of the county ofEssex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Shoes; and do hereby declare the same to be described inthe following specification and represented in the accompanyingdrawings, of which- Figure 1 is a top view, Fig. 2 a side elevation,Fig. 3 a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 a transverse section, of ashoe. containing my invention.

In this shoe there is, in the instep of the upper, an elastic" gore, andover such gore there are, to the instep, lacing-flaps, to cover thegore. Furthermore, there is between the I gore and the lacing-flaps atongue, which extends over the gore and projects beyond it in adirection toward .the heel. This tongue enables the mouth of the shoe tobe extended low in the instep, and thus renders the shoe easy to bedrawn on or off the foot of aperson. Furthermore, the tongue protectsthe gore from being worn by the lacings. The lacing- -flaps also extendback from the gore and tongue, and project over the mouth of the shoe,so as to completely cover the tongue when they are laced together.

In the drawings, A denotes the upper of the shoe, of which a is themouth. 13 is the elastic gore at the front of the mouth and in the crownor upper part of the instep. O O are the lacing-flaps, and D isthetongue, over the gore and between it and the lacing-flaps. The gore,triangular or tapering in shape, extends from the, top to, or nearly to,the bottom of the instep part of the upper of the shoe.

The tongue is to be fastened at its lower end The lacing-flaps arestitched to the quarters and the vamp, all being formed of separatepieces of leather.

In case of breakage of the lacing, or it accidentally becoming untiedand loose while the shoe is in wear, the elastic gore will operate tokeep the shoe closely fitted to the foot.

1. A shoe having lacing-flaps O G, a tongue, D, and an elastic gore, B,arranged with each other and the instep of the upper, substantially asset forth.

2. A shoe having its quarters united by an elastic gore, forming withthem the instep portion of the upper, and having separate lacin g-flaps,fastened to such quarters and arranged with the gore, as set forth.

3. A shoe having its quarters united by an elastic gore, forming witthem the instep portion of the upper, and having separate lacing-flapsand a tongue, fastened to such quarters and arranged with the gore, allsubstantially as specified.

' LABURTON J OHNSON.

Witnesses: I

R. H. EDDY, JOHN R. SNOW.

What I claim as my invention is as follows:

